


The Paths We Take

by tallgirl20



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Time Travel, alternative take on kyuubi attack, cross-post from fanfiction.net with a major overhaul, maybe kakashi/sakura if you squint, naruto shippuden does not apply, wrote before time skip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-11-29 17:22:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11445507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tallgirl20/pseuds/tallgirl20
Summary: Sakura just knew the stupid mission would go bad. Now stuck in the past, she must get home and soon. A stolen sword, Whirlpool politics, and teenage Kakashi are the least of her problems - because the Kyuubi is coming and she can't interfere.Right?





	1. Mission

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, I do not own Naruto at all. Please let this be the disclaimer for every chapter. 
> 
> I started writing this story way before the events surrounding the Kyuubi attack and Whirlpool's fall, and obito/mandra became a thing that happened. Which meant that once they did happen, my take on that section of history went so far out of the window that it landed in the Pacific. I was so very blocked that it has been nearly 7 years since it has done more than just bounce in my head. Today that begins to change. I will be leaving the original up on fanfiction.net, but I will be solely updating on ao3. 
> 
> Please enjoy!
> 
> ALSO THIS IS EXTREMELY NOT CANON COMPLIANT! DO NOT COMPLAIN TO ME ABOUT WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED. I WILL IGNORE YOU!!!! BE WARNED!

 

The Paths We Take

 

Life is full of twists and turns, branches that sprout into different paths. Fate, some say, has predetermined how one’s life will end - the outcome of the maze. Yet it is our individual choices that shape the future, is it not? We have the power to choose which path, out of the many available to us, that we will take. One wrong step, one false move, could alter the chain of events that link us to the future we are destined to follow - could likewise shift and reshape the future for better or worse.

 

Or is that misstep also the product of fate - destined to be taken?

  
  
  


1- Mission

 

Sakura focuses as hard as she can on the small earpiece jammed in her ear, straining to hear some sound to aleve the utter boredom. She hates to admit it, but she’s flagging. Five brutal hours of hiding behind a generic bunch rocks in the middle of the Suna desert is both cramping her legs and giving her heatstroke. 

 

She didn’t like this mission to begin with let alone being told to sit behind the rock ( _ “Like a Good Girl” -  _ Inner says with a huff) while the rest of the three man squad continued on. To where, Sakura doesn’t know. For what, Sakura doesn’t know. It’s  _ classified _ and  _ none of her business _ . All Sakura needs is to be ready to treat any injuries sustained as quickly as possible. The fact that the Hokage thought it necessary to have a medic ( _ “Her Apprentice”  _ comes the smug voice of Inner _ )  _ on hand “just in case” doesn’t exactly calm Sakura’s nerves. 

 

A bead of sweat trickles down her back as the minutes tick by.  _ (“WE ARE SO BORED!!!!”) _ . Sakura is about ready to smack her head against the rock behind her just to get Inner to shut up, but she doesn’t. Sakura is not a child anymore. She’s beyond arguing with the voice inside her head regardless of how much Inner naggs, groans, and  complains- which was a lot after 5 hours of nothing, nothing, and more ( _ “NOTHING”). _

 

( _ “Oh look! More sand!” _ ) Kami, would she just shut u-

 

The commlink crackles in her ear. Sakura’s unfocused eyes widen then narrow. This could be it.  _ Finally _ . She presses her finger to her ear hoping beyond hope that it’s Yuuki-taichou giving her the okay to move.

 

Tense moments pass before -  _ BOOOOOOOOOM _

 

Sakura curses as the explosion slams into her as if she was at the epicenter. Her ear is ringing and nausea rolls through her. Sakura’s eyes close as healing chakra blooms to life and repairs her burst eardrum. She takes a few breaths to get her equilibrium back before creeping her cloth covered head past the side of the rock. A massive cloud of black smoke rises to the sky about 2 miles out. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that is where the rest of the team is. Kami, she hopes they’re still alive. Unfortunately for Sakura, the dead silence on the other end of her commlink isn’t a good sign. 

 

“Yuuki-taichou, Yuuki-taichou. Can you hear me? Do you need back up?” Sakura’s voice is frantic with worry. Yuuki-taichou is a respected  _ Jōnin _ . He can’t be dead. She needs him to not have just _ died in a massive explosion! _ “Yuuki-taichou.” She pleads as her hands begin to shake. (“ _ What the hell is going on?!?!”) _

 

The comm goes static again before Sakura hears, “I’m a little busy at the moment, Sakura-chan.” His voice is strained but Yuuki-taichou is  _ alive.  _ A gust of air leaves her chest taking some of her tension with it. Resolve builds in its place. 

 

“Give me your position. I’m coming your way.” Even if Yuuki-taichou survived that blast, she hasn’t heard anything from the other two members of the squad. Someone has to be injured after an explosion that large. This must have been why she was added to the unit.

 

“No, Sakura-chan. Stay where you are.” His voice barks the order even as she hears the clash of kunai.

 

“What?!” She exclaims in disbelief. ( _ “He has got to be kidding!”) _ Her heart is pounding adrenaline through her system. She hasn’t used an ounce of chakra for hours. She’s fresh and combat ready and capable of healing. Why the hell is he calling her off? 

 

“Mizuni-sama is coming your way. You must deliver the scroll she possesses back to the Hokage. That is what I need you to do. Do you understand me?” Sakura can barely make out what he is saying over the background noise of battle. She hears him though.

 

But he can’t actually think she’s going to  _ run away and leave her teammates behind? Is he insane? _

 

“Taichou-” Sakura doesn’t even get a full sentence out before he cuts her off. “Sakura.” His voice is sharp. “Do you understand? Get the scroll to the Ho-” This time it’s his voice that cuts off - by a horrifying gurgle. She’s heard that sound before.  _ (SHIT!)  _ Yuuki-taichou is dead. A shiver races down her spine. Her team leader  _ (“A freaking Jōnin” -Inner is frothing at the mouth)  _ is dead.

 

But Mizuni-sama is not. 

 

Sakura pushes the lump in her throat down, forces the pinpricks of tears away, and wraps herself around that fact that not all is lost. She’s got at least one teammate to save, and she going to do it. 

 

_ (“Shannarō!”) _


	2. Sword

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't read the first chapter or just skipped over the first notes, this was written loooooong before most of the cannon plot was revealed including, in this case, Sharingan abilities.
> 
> Jutsu translations in the end notes
> 
> Please enjoy!

2 - Sword

Sakura pushes through the sand with chakra enhanced feet, but it still feels like she’s getting nowhere. The uneven surface refuses to stick together, sliding every which way when she moves over it. It’s worse than water walking since at least water naturally forms tension, somewhat.

_(“AAARRRGGGG. GO FASTER!!!”)_

What feels like hours later, Sakura tops a massive dune only to pause in horror. Dozens of bodies are strewn in broken pieces around an ancient circle of buildings crumbling from age and explosions alike. _How could she have missed this? She couldn’t have been more than two miles away!_

Her blood freezes in her veins as the sun glints off a hitai-ate - a _leaf hitai-ate._ She can't even distinguish which of her temporary teammates it belongs - _belonged_ \- to.

_(“NONONONONONONO” Inner Sakura moans in the back of her mind.)_

Two down. Two teammates gone before she even had a chance to help.

Sakura wrenches her eyes away from the carnage to focus on the moving _(“alive” comes the pitiful clarification)_ bodies. Sakura feels like strangling her Inner. Can’t she just shut up?

A flash of orange hair identifies the only remaining member of her team - Mizuni-sama. _Okay, okay._ The elite ninja is dancing around at least six enemy nin. She has lethal grace that Sakura would love to admire if she didn’t have to save the older kunoichi. Pink hair flutters behind her, as Sakura leaps down the dune with metal flying. Two ninja die before they even see her join the fight. Karma. Satisfaction pulls in her gut.

_(“It’s time to kick ASS!” Inner Sakura bounces back with a vengeance.)_

Two of the remaining enemy ninja break off of the attack on Mizuni-sama to focus on her. The music note hitai-ate forces her mouth to grimace. _Of course, it’s Sound._

Sakura dodges a fire jutsu that makes her blood boil in a completely different way before trying to go on the offensive, only for the (“ _Kami damned”)_ sand to shift under her feet. She dives out of the way of several kunai and reassesses. Her taijutsu will be pointless in this fight. She hopes the Sound ninja have just a much trouble with their footing or it could be a very short battle. Without her cental offensive style available to her, Sakura will have to use ninjutsu and possibly genjutsu to kill these guys - because they are definitely dying. No incapacitation today.

_Okay, okay. You have this (“If you weren’t fighting in the sand or had massive chakra reserves - which you don’t"). SHUT UP._

Sakura’s fingers fly through hand signs as she dodges projectiles. At least she has dodging down to muscle memory - _thank you, Shishou._ With a massive indrawn breath, Sakura finishes the sequence: “Fuuton: kyoufuu” - _thank you, Temari._ She breathes out. The sand lifts into the air as the gust of wind swirls around the battlefield. Visibility is about nil.  

Sakura disappears underground before her diversion is turned against her. Seconds later her hands push up, grabbing at the nearest chakra source. She catches only the edge of his pants before the ninja to jumps backwards. Luckily for her, he loses his footing - curses, and most importantly- _takes his eyes off her_. Surging from the ground, Sakura slams a chakra coated fist into his head before he can recover. She ignores the blood, brain matter, and other bodily fluids coating her hand. She’s long since become immune to gore.

 _(“That seemed really easy?” Inner voices warily)._ Sakura silently agrees as she scans for the second attacker.

A nasty laugh comes from her right, drawing her attention. “Well, well. You’re a little skilled, eh.” Sakura eyes the exposed and highly defined muscles on her last attacker’s arms with apprehension. He is significantly stronger than she is without having to augment with chakra - of which her supply is dwindling. Not exactly a great start, but not awful either.

His cold eyes are doing their own assessment before fixating on her wet fist. “Not that it would have taken much to kill that waste of space. Honestly, you did me a favor.”

Sakura doesn’t answer. She has no desire to talk with an asshole who doesn’t respect his teammates. Now that she thinks about it, he didn’t even throw a kunai in her direction when she was attacking his partner. _(“He will burn in hell,” Inner growls)_ Sakura is in complete agreement with her Inner as she slides into a balanced position, ready to attack or defend.

“Let’s see how you fare against a real ninja, eh?” He taunts as he reaches behind his back. Steal hisses as it leaves the concealed sheath on his back. The sword looks oddly ornate with markings running up and down the steel itself. Sakura has never seen anything like it.

A truly feral grin stretches his face as he begins a series of one handed seals. Sakura is too far away to feel comfortable trying to reach him before he finishes his sequence so she throws a kunai at his head instead. He dodges with a minute tilt of his head. She has a bad feeling about this.

“Katon: Ittou no Gouka.” Black flames engulf the sword, writhing around serrated steel. Her green eyes widen in disbelief. _(“I have a really, really bad feeling about this!”)_ Sakura has never even heard of a fire style technique as strong as this one! Who the hell was he?

“Do you like it, kunoichi-chan? I found it in an abandoned shrine. Finder keepers, eh?” He continues as the black flame shadows his face. He disintegrates her clone with just a flick of the blade. Situational awareness gets a check. He’s probably behind the fire attack from the beginning of their battle as well which ups his chakra pool as well. She doesn’t get much more than a second to take all the new information in before he says, “Let’s play,” and surges towards her.

The second battle is on.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation: 
> 
> Fuuton: Kyoufuu - Wind style: strong wind. 
> 
> Katon: Ittou no Gouka - Fire style: Hell Fire Sword


	3. Scroll

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fog of sleep has been lifted, and the chapter has been edited for flow and grammer.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

 

 

3 - Scroll

 

Sakura launches herself backwards, away from the assaulting ninja. She doesn’t want to test the heat of his blade against the steal of her standard kunai. From the smirk on his face, Sakura thinks a clash would end poorly for her.

 

His speed is going to be an issue. _(“No kidding!” Inner snarks)_ as Sakura watches his hungry sword miss her elbow and instead turn a piece her sleeve into ash. With his extended reach and active jutsu, Sakura stands little chance of outlasting him. She’ll have to end this quickly - a thought which is underscored only moments later when his next downward slash doesn’t miss. It slices off a layer of skin on her forearm leaving third degree burns in its wake.

 

 _(“SHIIIIIIIIIIIT!” Inner curses)_ as a hiss of pain escapes Sakura’s lips, much to the glee of her attacker. _(“THIS IS NOT WORKING! DO SOMETHING!”)_

 

 _Okay, Okay._ Sakura knows no ninjutsu that will finish this fight quickly, and she’s hesitant to stir up another sandstorm. Genjutsu it is. The important question is which genjutsu. Nothing too big - she can’t drain her entire chakra pool without knowing how her teammate is doing. Which leaves small, simple. A plan forms in her mind as she analyzes her opponent’s smug expression.

 

_Play to his arrogance!_

 

Sakura leaps back and kicks sand towards her enemy’s face. As he shields his eyes, her fingers fly through hand signs. His expression is morphing from cocky to annoyed as he eats up the distance that Sakura has managed to gain with her trick.

 

“Bitch, you’re pathetic!”

 

_Her eyes widen at his sudden increase in speed. She doesn’t have time to fully dodge the diagonal slash aimed at her torso. A kunai emerges from her hip pouch as she desperately tries to redirect his blade. The moment of impact is brief as the hellfire sword melts through her own weapon, and continuing its assault, removes her left arm a second later. The smell of burning flesh preludes the screaming coming from her throat-_

 

“KAI!”

 

The first words she speaks to him are, “Too late,” but before her intact kunai manages to sever his aorta, his body disappears. A fist sized rock plops to the ground. _(The vein above Inner’s left eye is twitching. “What?”)_ Her second of disbelief is a second too long.

 

He’s gripping her neck with one hand, yanking her back to his chest. “Real one, eh.” He mocks. Before she can even begin to squirm out of his grasp, the _still flaming_ sword is less than an inch from her navel and the delicate, necessary, organs behind it. Sakura’s pulse rabbits under her skin. She has no idea how to get out of this. If she makes a move for his sword hand, he crushes her neck. She goes for the neck, he probably severs her body in half. Both hands hold equal threat to her life.

 

“Wanted to take this slow, savor it, but you just need to die, eh.”

 

Sakura is barely listening as he rants. There is a sliver of Sakura’s elbow that is touching his sword arm skin to skin thanks to one of his previous missed strikes. She funnels numbing medical chakra into that zone just as she forces the remaining chakra towards her throat.

 

It only takes a moment for the numbing to take effect. The sword drops from his spasming hand. Sakura glimpses the black flames finally disappearing as steel sinks into sand. Her other elbow is already slamming backwards before his grip on her throat can tighten again. She’s loaded it with chakra _so he feels it_ . The cracking of his ribs is audible. _(Inner is cackling at his pain. “Eh that, bastard!”)_ Sakura spins around and latches onto his hair. _He’s not escaping this time!_ Her reinforced knee impacts with his face, forcing a strangled moan to leave his lips, before Sakura snaps neck. He falls silent, limp. Pulling another kunai from her pocket, Sakura slashes his neck. More blood stains her hands but, _(“Take no chances!”)._

 

She staggers backwards and tries to get her bearings. Sakura thinks she overdid the the numbing medical chakra. Her throat is tingling, and she’s not sure how successful swallowing will be for the next few minutes. At least the numbing on her elbow is helping combat the extreme pain from the third degree burn further down that arm.

 

_(“No joke, I can’t believe we are alive. Thank Kami that bad guys like to talk!” Inner confesses with a shaky smile.) That was far too close._

 

Sakura gives herself one more breath before turning back towards the ruins and her _(“hopefully”)_ still alive teammate _._ Her prayers are answered as she spies movement closer to the buildings. Mizuni-sama is fighting off an aggressive attack from the remaining Sound ninja when their eyes lock. The older kunoichi hand pulls out a couple of kunai. They fly towards her opponent with near deadly accuracy - except one that goes off target when she slips…

 

Or so it seems to her final attacker. Sakura’s bloody hand snatches the _not_ errant kunai from the air. Only, it’s too light to be a kunai.

 

_The scroll. (“It’s the scroll.” Inner moans as she pulls on her hair.)_

 

Mizuni-sama is telling her to go. _To leave her._ Frustration claws at her because Sakura wants to stay. She wants to be a teammate, a _real_ teammate, who doesn’t have to stay behind boulders or run _away_ from the fights.

 

Unfortunately, Sakura’s not holding up well. She has maybe a third of her chakra left. It’s not going to be enough to fight and then return to the village without collapsing from chakra exhaustion along the way. Not that she would even be much help in a fight of this caliber. She’d be a liability. _(Inner grits her teeth at the admission.)_

 

Sakura knows the decision that needs to be made. _She does._ It makes her want to scream, makes all her improvements seem meaningless, makes Sakura feel like _TRASH._ But even so, she’s turning away from her teammate and racing for the boarder. As she slides the concealed scroll into her weapon’s pouch, she doesn’t notice how clean her previously blood soaked hand has become. She does however detour back to pick up that damned sword. There is no way she’s leaving it there for Sound to retrieve.

 

Her mind is focusing on her surroundings as the miles extend between her and ground zero. If this is all she can do, then Sakura’s going to damn well make it to the Hokage with the scroll intact.

 

_(“There is no way this scroll is worth the lives our team!” Inner shrieks.) Like Sakura doesn’t already know that!_

 

Even so, Sakura will make sure their sacrifice isn’t in vain.


	4. Nukenin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The previous chapter has been edited for grammar and flow. Feel free to re-read, but no real content has changed.

4 - Nukenin

 

By the time Sakura is biting into her second soldier pill, the sky’s lightning into pre-dawn. She doesn’t feel remotely comfortable stopping for sleep this far from the Fire Country - and more importantly Konoha border patrols.

 

Not that she’s going to have much of a choice. Despite devouring the ration bars in her pack, Sakura hasn’t been able to consume enough calories to fight back the chakra drain from the past day. The black creeping into the edges of her vision feels distinctly like chakra exhaustion.

 

Why can’t her body match her determination? - Sakura doesn’t need to wonder. She knows.

 

_She’s not good enough._

 

Everything she has fought to gain since _they_ left feels useless on the other end of a FUBAR mission. Medical training - pointless when her teammates are already dead. Taijutsu training - useless if she can’t adapt it to different environments. Chakra training - pathetic when faced against an actual opponent who didn’t spend their early life giggling like a civilian instead of focusing on her practical skills.

 

Moments like this remind Sakura of just how much she sabotaged herself as a kid.

 

 _Okay, okay. Enough self pity_. Current strategy of running to the border and getting to her fellow Konoha ninja isn’t going to work. She’s going to pass out whether she likes it or not. So If she has to rest, she needs to do it right. There has to be somewhere defensible she can sleep even if it's just for a few hours.

 

She scans her surroundings. River Country doesn’t have the dense trees of home, but it does have grottos created by its iconic rivers - ones she is now counting on for cover. She jumps onto the first river she comes across. It looks decently sized and cuts across the terrain south by southwest. She follows it up river, keeping her eyes open for a safe-ish place to hide.

 

The added chakra drain of running on the water instead of solid ground is worth it when only a few miles up she finds a decently sized grotto deep enough she can sleep on dry rock.

 

Sakura vacillates between putting up some traps or leaving in untouched. With the state of her weapons pouch, Sakura decides it is worth the risk to leave no trace in the surrounding area. As far as she knows, no one should be following her.

 

Decision made, Sakura collapses on the stone with a white knuckled grip on her kunai.

 

What seems like seconds later, Sakura wakes in agony. Her arm throbs to the beat of her heart and radiates an inferno of heat that leaves no doubt her burn is infected. Lactic acid build up makes her legs feel like they are made of lead. Exhaustion leaves cobwebs in her mind. She can barely focus.

 

_(“I GOT THIS.” Inner voice is unwavering in the face of Sakura’s weakness.)_

 

Inner breaths out; and on the subsequent inhale, Sakura feels a sucking sensation tugging on her limbs, her mind, her injuries. _What?_ Sakura sits up to a dullness she has never felt before. _(“Hurry home, idiot. I don’t know how long I can hold this.”)_

 

For once, Sakura doesn’t question. She has no idea how Inner is blocking pain receptors, but she knows it won’t last forever. When it comes back, it’s going to be substantially worse. Who knows what else she will do to her body with her pain response deadened.

 

When she exits the grotto, the sun has set. Sakura wasn’t expecting to lose that many hours to sleep, but it has helped without question. Her reserves are back to half full - more than enough to make it to the border as long as Inner can keep her pain away.

 

Seconds, minutes, hours pass uneventfully. With each mile towards home, Sakura grows more and more hopeful. There is no one chasing her from behind. There is no one ahead waiting to cut her off, no one -

 

 _SHIT._  There are four chakra signatures on the right that are angling in for interception. Sakura dodges the kunai that would have punctured her lung and pushes more chakra into her feet, trying to flee. Instinct has her dodging another spray of kunai, but the attack has done its job - slowed her enough for two of the fighters to cut her off.

 

She angles her back to a tree and grabs two kunai. She not getting out of this fight and that fact irritates her to no end.  Sakura’s nerves are shot and her sanity feels like it is fraying apart. Why can’t they just leave her alone? There is no ninja village in River so she isn’t intruding on anyone's turf. She refuses believe the freaking Sound ninja followed her this far. There’s just no way. So why is a group of ninja in the middle of nowhere deciding to intercept her final leg home? _WHY CAN’T THE LEAVE HER ALONE?_

 

All four of her opponents move out from the shadows. How cliche, Sakura thinks as she grits her teeth. Her eyes flick to their hitai-ate out of habit and stills. She has never seen that symbol before. A small circle provides the center for two swirled lines. If she ever gets home, she will look it up. Right now, though, the only thing that matters is the slash marring the symbol.

 

_Nukenin._

 

_(“Awesome.”)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even now, I can't find any picture of a Whirlpool Hitai-ate for reference, so we will have to go with my original though based off a hurricane - a round eye and two curved branches circling it.


End file.
